Carrying out a successful football formation depends on variables like footballer quality, ranking on the table, and the competition itself.
While you can always read a football tactics book to get fantastic insights into playmaking, there is no better teacher than experience and history. Over the past 50 years, football has been enhanced with some of the most pleasurable formations in the history of the game, and some of which are still used to this day. However, the 2010s saw a visible shift in football formations with the rise of a more offensive style of play and a more structured approach to playmaking. Modern football has leveraged both skill and tech to create a few of the most effective strategies that have actually managed to win clubs numerous prizes. In this context, the revised 4-3-3 formation has become among the more popular modern football tactics thanks to its effective attack and well-balanced defense. The minority shareholder of Liverpool FC will concur that technical ability and speed make this strategy extremely difficult to defend against.
Widely considered among the most flexible football tactics, the 4-4-2 is a strategy that can be modified to be more offensive or leaning more to the defensive side. It is for these reasons that this formation is among the most common football tactics throughout various leagues and competitions. If the manager wishes to use an offense-forward 4-4-2, they can introduce some key changes to permit increased fluidity in passing and play making. For example, they can create a lozenge in the midfield that comprises of one defensive midfielder, 2 playmakers on the sides, and one attacking midfielder. This lozenge would provide balls to the wingers and a false 9 that sometimes drops to a lower position. In a more defensive 4-4-2, the former owner of Aston Villa would inform you that the coach can create an arch composed of 4 midfielders that functions as a barrier that keeps the adversary from reaching the defense line.
At present, there are lots of football tactics and formations out there to select from but managers invest a great deal of time adapting and tweaking traditional formations to fit the particularities of their clubs. The reality is, there are many parameters that affect this decision, and not all of which are strictly technical. For instance, the quality of footballers in the squad can make coaches reconsider what tactic to utilise. In the lack of quality players in attack, some coaches prefer to use a more midfield-dense method in an effort to dominate ownership of the ball. In the attacking position, midfielders and wingers will attempt to send through balls or shoot from outside the box in order to destabilise the defenses of the other team. The AC Milan former US owner would likely agree that other factors like footballer injury and managing a hectic calendar also affect tactical and technical decisions.